Feeding water to steam-boilers by auxiliary engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WM. BALL, OF CHIOOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FEEDING WATER TO STEAM-BOILERS BY AUXILIARY ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,298, dated July 24, 1855.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVM. BALL, of Chicopee, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Method of Feeding Steam-Boilers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view; Fig. 2, a plan of the heater or water tank; Fig. 3, an elevation of the same.

My invention has for its object the preservation of t-he water of steam boilers at an exact and unvarying level, and is applicable to any boiler which may be filled by an auxiliary engine.

It consists in taking the steam by which such auxiliary engine is driven from the steam boiler at the exact level at which the water is required to stand in the boiler. A mixture of steam and water is thus worked through this engine, by which its operation is clogged to the extent necessary to preserve the water in the boiler at the exact level required.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention I will proceed t-o describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the accompanying drawings A is the boilerB the feed pump-C the heater or water tank-D and E t-he pipes leading the one from the heater t-o the force pump and the other from the pump to the boiler.

F is the pipe which carries the steam to the feed engine, which in the case represented in the drawings consists of two oscillating cylinders I, K, the piston rods of which are set quarterlng upon the shaft G which actuates the pump. The details of this engine need not be here described as they form no part of my present invention. The exhaust steam from the engine passes by the pipe H into the heater C, by which means the feed water is heated.

M is a cock upon the steam pipe by means of which the flow of steam to the feed engine may be regulated or stopped.

The pipe F enters the boiler at the exact level at which the water is required to stand, the end of this pipe terminating in a short piece of pipe N, placed vertically and open at both ends, by which means the scum which floats upon the surface of the water is prevented from entering the steam pipe and stopping the operation of the engine.

`With an auxiliary eng-ine thus arranged it is not possible that the water in the boiler should vary either above or below the required level ,-were there the slightest tendency in the water to rise above this level the additional quantity of water thrown into the pipe F would so obstruct the passage of the steam through the cock M as instantly to reduce the speed of the pumping engine, by which means the quantity of water thrown into the boiler would be at once reduced and the equilibrium would be restored. In like manner should the level of the water within the boiler fall below the end of the pipe F steam alone would pass through the cock M which would so accelerate the motion of the pumping engine as instantly to restore the level of the water g-such variation of level does not however take place to any appreciable degree, exactly that mixture of steam and water passing constantly to the pumping engine as shall be necessary to keep the water to the desired level within the boiler. At night or whenever the operation of the principal engine is suspended and the consumption of steam ceases, the pumping engine is left untouched to work or not as may be indicated by the level of the water in the boiler; in the morning the water is found at the exact level required ;-on firing up the water is swelled by the formation of bubbles of steam, and is thereby raised slightly above the required level; water alone is then worked through the pumping engine, and as the capacity of the cylinder is much greater than that of the force pump the excess of water is drawn off through the pumping engine and returned to the heater, and the water is immediately restored to its proper leve-l. This is the only occasion on which the water can rise above the end of the pipe F, and as it is trifling in amount, and is instantly corrected by the pumping engine itself, it is practically unworthy of note. The water thus continues unvaryingly at the level required, the working of the feeding engine being constantly obstructed by the passage of suiiicient water through the valve M to enable it to throw the requisite quantity of water into the boiler and no more. Any stoppage or leakage in the pipes leading to or from the feed engine or pump will be instantly brought to t-he notice Of the engineer, by the variation in the velocity of the pumping engine. Should the steam pipe F become clogged between the boiler and feed engine the latter would instantly stop. The same Would take place Were the stoppage in the pipe D between the boiler and the pump, and Were the valves in either of the pipes D or E prevented by a chip or any other obstruction from closing, the rapid action of the feed engine Would instantly give notice to the engineer that something Was Wrong. Y

That the Water in the heater may not be cooled by th'e excess of Water thrown into it, this Water is caused to enter by the pipe O, into a vertical pipe P, Which communicates WM. BALL.

Vitnesses SAM. COOPER, THOMAS GLOVER. 

